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Runelords 37.0 - Inside Jorgenfist's Fortress
Leaving Khyr with instructions to retreat to the guardpost at the giant staircase should an alarm be raised, the rest of the party diverged and, still shrouded in invisibility, made their way to the large excavation in the centre of the grounds. Khyr slid down the chimney and into the room: the two lamias slumbered and, with great care and silence, Khyr managed to rob them blind without disturbing them, stealing not only every object on the shelves and mantles, but also every pillow that wasn't directly under the womens' bodies, their tiaras, their weapons, and the shrine from the top of the altar. With this done, the crafty man slunk back up the chimney from where he came. The others walked down the winding ramp that led into the central pit. However, Virgil was not as quiet as he could have been, and triggered some sort of defense: a winding vine wall sprung up just behind them, trapping them inside. Paying it no mind, they moved on. Eamon and Shadliss exited the protective invisibility barrier and walked into the kobold forge. The Shivering Ones were ecstatic that they had both survived the spiders and had come back to visit. They returned Eamon's enhanced sword, and gave Shadliss a very nice kris. They thanked them for the gifts. Ever driven by his short attention span, Virgil dragged Alicia down the hall to see what he could find. In the next room, they saw a small spring, surrounded by three seemingly-resting plant creatures. Deciding not to risk disturbing them, they turned back and went to the forge as well, though still invisible. Virgil leaned on Eamon's shoulders, whispering questions to him that he related to the Shivering Ones, who, as outside contractors, seemed to know very little about the goings-on at Jorgenfist. They made a crude map, showing a ring of rooms around the central pit that they had entered from, and explained that every room other than theirs was covered in vines; the leader, the one who made all the plants, kept them swollen with water to prevent fires, which the flame-loving kobolds thought was a shame. There was also a path that led deeper down, but they were not allowed to go that way. Thanking them for their help, the group carried on, deciding to walk around the ring, taking the direction opposite of the three resting sylvans. The first room they came to was an open space with a single large pine tree positioned in its centre. By this point, the party's invisibility had worn off, but they decided to be brazen at this point, as Virgil was concerned about taxing his magic. Striding around the room's edge purposefully, they hoped that the tree, which they assumed was not a normal plant, would not hinder them. The tree's branches seemed to bend to regard them, and a slow, long voice called out for them to wait. They nearly ignored it, until the tree claimed that did not recognize them, and if they were outsiders, she needed help; the group turned on their heels and stopped to speak with her. The sylvan introduced herself as Needlenest the Foresthome, a safe shelter for all the birds and animals of the forest. Romeo seemed immediately taken with her, and as he flew up into her branches it seemed like open pine cones appeared from nowhere, offering their seeds for the familiar to eat. She painstakingly explained that she was once the leader of these treants, but that there had been an upset: the younger ones had been incited by the words of a druid, and now they yearned for war, the destruction of human civilization and a return of cultivated land to the wild. Needlenest saw this for the folly it was, but could not sway them against the younger upstarts, the druid, and the dwarf named Barl who schemed in the rock below their feet. Now she was trapped down here, alone and apart from the forest creatures she lived to provide for, while her brethren prepared for war. At their questions, she confirmed that they and the lamias were the agents of Karzoug, and she implored them: stop the druid and the dwarf so that she could re-establish order, and the treant army would be no more. Thinking about the plight of the Shimmerglen, Virgil asked about Myrenra's sister, the one they had been told to search for. Needlenest professed no knowledge of that dryad, but offered to ask the wind and the earth for them if things could be set right again. With a clear goal now, the group swore to help her and free her from this pit. Taking their leave, they continued down the hallway, before Virgil suddenly realized something and doubled back quickly on his own. Returning to Needlenest, and finding Romeo still there, he muttered that he had been carrying something for a while and that she might enjoy it, even if it would only last a very short time. Pulling out a scroll, he cast a spell that summoned a swarm of squirrels that rushed into her branches. The tree seemed to swell and reach out, providing for the numerous animals, and the sylvan blessed him for his small kindness. Romeo, however, did not appreciate the intrusion, and rode Virgil back to the others, snarking at him for ruining his good thing. Finding a sealed stone door, Eamon, Virgil and Alicia managed to pull it open with some effort. Inside was a fancily-decorated boudoir, with a bed of pillows, a desk, and an armoire filled with rich women's clothing. Virgil stole a pen and some perfume, but left the clothes be, citing that it was just cruel to steal from a wardrobe that obviously had that much care put into it. Sealing the room again, they moved on and soon found a ramp leading deeper down. Pushing blithely forwards, they were assaulted by a vine-like creature that had hidden itself in the foliage on the walls. Dispatching it quickly, Eamon picked up the rather fancy ranseur that it had been using, and they continued deeper down. Finding a rather imposing large door, the group pushed it open. Inside, the room seemed to defy logic, its architecture and aesthetic both mundanely and magically inducing a sense of vertigo and lack of accurate depth perception. The sight made them feel queasy, and some sort of trap was triggered as well, causing everyone but Alicia to shrink down to half of their size. Inside the first room was a vat the size of a swimming pool, though its precise dimensions were lost in the confusing perspective of its surroundings. It seemed gigantic, and Eamon and Virgil immediately recognized it for what it was: a runewell. Unsure about what to do with it, Virgil decided to tie a mug to the end of a rope and toss it in, to see if they could get a sample of the liquid without exposing themselves to the dangerous fluid. However, when he pulled back the rope, the mug was gone and the rope was singed, eaten through where it had touched the liquid. Unsettled, the four pressed on. Walking down the hallway, they opened a door to another room: this one was lined with imposing suits of armour. Standing at the far end, over the doorway, was a different, larger suit. It lacked a helmet, and only black emptiness could be seen inside the torso, but it had unarmoured hands that gripped a giant axe, and blood was smeared all over the weapon and dripped from the black, empty neck hole.Category:Rise of the Runelords